I appreciate this piece. As a non-gun person*, I can admit that I know little to nothing about guns, and am guilty of making false assumptions and sweeping generalizations regarding guns and their owners. Your piece has helped me change my perspective a bit on the issue. I still struggle to come to terms with what I perceive to be an unhealthy obsession with guns in this country, and might never fully understand gun culture, but I think I’ve gained some helpful insight after reading your piece.

*By non-gun person, I mean that on a personal level, I don’t care for guns. I don’t own any, I’ve never fired one; it just doesn’t interest me very much, and to be honest, they make me uncomfortable. So they’re not for me, personally. However, I am not anti-gun. I do not support banning guns. What I do support is lifting the ban on the government conducting gun violence research, and exploring rational, sensible, reasonable gun regulation laws. Regulation seems to be a term that right-wing folks hate, so think of it more as gun responsibility laws. For instance, when we want to drive a car, we’re required to have a drivers license. If we don’t have one, we need to obtain one. If we want to own a car, we’re required to register it. Reasonable people do not see this practice as an assault on their liberty. So why do pro-gun people reject the idea of applying the same (or similar) procedures to gun ownership?